The Kamoa-Kakula copper mine is located in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Ivanhoe Mines.

Ivanhoe Mines announced on 19 August that the Phase III concentrator at its Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo has reached commercial production.

The site’s three concentrators collectively produced a record 35,941t of copper last month.

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Ivanhoe Mines’ executive co-chairman Robert Friedland said the milestone “marks the onset of rapid copper growth over the second half of 2024,” with annual production expected to increase from 450,000t to over 600,000t.

Once achieved, this would make Kamoa-Kakula the third-largest copper mine in the world after Escondida in Chile and Grasberg in Indonesia. Ivanhoe Mines said it is looking to maximise copper production from Kamoa-Kakula’s current operating footprint.

“We expect Ivanhoe’s aggressive copper growth story to continue as we advance planning on Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase IV expansion while exploration continues to impress on our adjacent Western Foreland licences,” said Friedland. 

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The Phase III concentrator at Kamoa-Kakula was completed ahead of schedule on 28 May, with copper concentrate production beginning on 10 June. It is currently milling at a nameplate processing rate of five million tonnes per annum of ore. However, milling has exceeded nameplate capacity on multiple occasions over 24 hours, by as much as 19%.   

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Since beginning production, the Phase III concentrator has produced more than 11,000t of copper in concentrate. More than 33,000 wet metric tonnes of copper concentrate have been delivered to the nearby Lualaba Copper Smelter, according to Ivanhoe. 

Independently, Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase III concentrator is expected to produce around 150,000tpa of copper.